Lavatory plumbing fixtures, such as sinks, toilets, urinals, and other plumbing fixtures are widely known and used in the art. Commercial buildings, resorts, hotels, homes, and other buildings which incorporate the use of lavatory plumbing fixtures continue to be built or remodeled in increasing numbers. Along with expansion of new construction and remodel projects comes a need for lavatory rooms and contained plumbing fixtures.
One problem in the field, especially in view of large construction and remodel projects, includes the extended delay of time occurring between delivery, prep, install, and certification of plumbing fixtures for use by individuals. Typically, several days to a week or more may lapse between the initial delivery and certification of lavatory plumbing fixtures. During this interval, several construction crews may become present at a job site, such as painters, dry wall installers, engineers, flooring technicians, plumbers and the like. As work continues daily, these workers encounter lavatory rooms and often utilize lavatory plumbing fixtures prematurely. Unfortunately, there is a large problem with the use of lavatory plumbing fixtures prior to proper installation and certification of these fixtures.
There is a need in the field of construction for a cost-effective apparatus for communicating the presence of an uninstalled lavatory plumbing fixture. There is further a need for a locking apparatus for communicating a temporary service outage and protecting non-functional fixtures from unauthorized use. Further there is a need for an apparatus which locks to prevent the use of these lavatory plumbing fixtures when such a use would otherwise give rise to problematic results. Still further there is a need for a lavatory plumbing fixture accessory which is durable and designed for repeated use.